The Bucket List

A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that he had to get started on his bucket list right away. This alarmed me, until I realized that he was taking orders for a run to KFC.

Of course, normally “bucket list” refers to that list of things, however outlandish, that you feel you must do before you … kick the bucket. The name comes from the movie “The Bucket List,” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. (Subtitle: Two old actors between ‘Batman’ movies.)

I think it’s always a good idea to be prepared for the inevitable. Personally, I keep my bucket list pretty short:

1) Become a billionaire.
2) Spend it in all sorts of extravagant, self-indulgent ways.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of assuming I would accomplish these in order. I’m sorry to report that progress on goal #2 has outpaced progress on #1.

A lot.

But maybe it’s time to rethink the whole idea. In a way, it’s kind of like that game where you have to think of what you’d wish for if you had three wishes. Does anyone not wish for more wishes? So can that concept be applied to a bucket list?

Well, the first thing on the list could be to find a cure for whatever’s doing you in. But the bucket list is supposed to consist of things you can actually accomplish. So unless you’re a genius medical researcher, that’s probably a non-starter.

Of course, the only reason Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman accomplished anything (Oh … spoiler alert!) is that Nicholson’s character was a billionaire. Hence my item 1.